instinct for politics. "Here all men govern," declared one of the
viceroys; "the people have more part in political discussions
than in any other provinces in the world; a council of war sits
in every house."



CHAPTER II. "OUR OLD KING OR NONE"

The movement which led eventually to the emancipation of the
colonies differed from the local uprisings which occurred in
various parts of South America during the eighteenth century.
Either the arbitrary conduct of individual governors or excessive
taxation had caused the earlier revolts. To the final revolution
foreign nations and foreign ideas gave the necessary impulse. A
few members of the intellectual class had read in secret the
writings of French and English philosophers. Othershad traveled
abroad and came home to whisper to their countrymen what they had
seen and heard in lands more progressive than Spain and Portugal.
The commercial relations, both licit and illicit, which Great
Britain had maintained with several of the colonies had served to
diffuse among them some notions of what went on in the busy world
outside.

By gaining its independence, the United States had set a
practical example of what might be done elsewhere in America.
Translated into French, the Declaration of Independence was read
and commented upon by enthusiasts who dreamed of the possibility
of applying its principles in their own lands. More powerful
still were the ideas liberated by the French Revolution and